Glossary

Encyclopedic Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations in the Technology and Principles of Behavior

Encyclopedic Glossary of Terms

ABC. Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence. This is a common phrase for helping to evoke recognition behaviors associated with the three term contingency. See Three-Term Contingency.

Abnormal Behavior.
It is common, particularly in medical and psychological model orientations to
behavior, to differentiate between normal and abnormal behavior. However,
normal and appropriate are matters of perspective. The distinction between normal and abnormal, and between
appropriate and inappropriate (out-of-context, whatever that means) behavior may be counterproductive. Behavior is all natural and fully caused. If a behavior exists then it is caused and distinguishing between normal versus abnormal can distract from identification of the cause of the behaviors. This is particularly harmful in the technology of behavior wherein we seek to control the behavior in question. It may relate to being unexpected by the observer or that the variables controlling it have not yet been identified. This term is not generally used in behavior analysis. It may be reserved by some to refer to extremely unusual behaviors caused largely by medical problems or genetic medical disorders.

Adjunctive Behavior. "Adjunctive behavior is operant behavior that appears intermittently in the most of other ongoing behavior. It often appears to be an accidental intrusion that have little if any relevance to more important behaviors that is already in progress and which it appears to interrupt at least briefly. The intruding adjunctive behavior occurs under its own independent stimulus controls and is a schedule effect--that is, a pattern of behaving that occurs only if the prevailing schedules of reinforcement permit it to happen." (Fraley, 2008 p. 601) Adjunctive behavior is most common in time schedules or fixed interval schedules. Immediately after the reinforcement trial for a period during which reinforcement is not available, other behaviors can become prepotent until it gets closer to the reinforcement-available trials for thew primary behavior.

Aggressive Behaviors. “Attacks, attempted attacks or threats of attack by one
individual directed at another individual.” In dogs, this usually refers to snarling, growling, lunging, snapping
and biting. There are different approaches to defining aggression, and no single
definition is agreed upon by all. Note that a term like this is general and helps only to define a set of behaviors when operating under contingencies to do so. This term and general terms like it do not define specific behaviors. If one if faced with a problem behavior that might evoke tacting it as "aggressive," one ought to define that specific behavior either broadly as an operant or more specifically as a behavior or response class. Terms like this are not suitable as a replacement for defining a behavior of concern in an unequivocal and unambiguous and operational manner. This caution goes for any so called types or categories of aggressive behavior or for other labels such ash separation anxiety or obsessive compulsive behavior etc. as well.

Alternating Treatment
Design. The alternating treatment
design in the single subject experiment is characterized by rapidly alternating
at least two distinct treatments (independent variables) and observing their
effect on a single behavior (dependent variable) (Cooper et al., 1987). Rather
than waiting for stability of the independent variable to be achieved, such as
in the reversal design, the alternating treatment design alternates
interventions right from the start.

Ambivalent Behaviors. The behaviors resulting as a net-effect from conflicting concurrent contingencies operating simultaneously. Represents a conflict in motivating operations. This usually refers to attack, appeasement or flight behaviors performs either simultaneously or where they vacillate between them.

Antecedent Control
Procedure. Any procedure that
manipulates antecedent stimuli in order to increase or decrease the likelihood of a
target operant being performed. This involves changes to discriminative stimuli or function altering stimuli. This can include respondent conditioning based procedures that change emotional arousal that functions to motivate the operant in question.

Antecedent Stimulus. Stimuli present prior to the behavior in question. There can be many stimuli present in the environment prior to a behavior in question but not all of them will have functional control over the behavior of concern. Once an antecedent stimulus is confirmed to have functional control over a behavior it is called an evocative stimulus (SEv). See Evocative Stimulus for details and see Function Altering Stimuli for details on stimuli that can alter the functional capacity of the SEv to evoke the behavior.

Anxiety. General term referring to emotional arousal. Miltenberger (2004): "A term used to describe respondent behavior involving the activation of the autonomic nervous system (including rapid heart rate, shallow rapid breathing, and increased muscle tension). Often used more specifically to refer to a "anticipatory foreboding," to the awareness related behaviors or private experience of certain emotional responses called feelings. Certain conditioned stimuli elicit emotional responses because they have been associated with other stimuli afterward, which we might term anticipation but it is more accurate to simply refer to responses to conditioned stimuli than to "anticipation" which suggest and agential perspective. This "worrying" can be thought of as anxiety.

Appetitive Stimulation.
Stimulation that evokes approach and contact behavior. Appetitive stimulation is assumed to be pleasure
eliciting and is the opposite of aversive stimulation. See Aversive Stimulus.

Arousal. Stimulation and activation of the nervous system
generally. Can indicate release of various chemicals into the bloodstream as well that so structures the organism for increased activity.

Autoshaping. A respondent conditioning
procedure that produces skeletal muscle responses, more typical of operant
behavior. “For example, a key is turned on a few seconds before grain is
presented to a pigeon. After several pairings of key light and grain, the bird
begins to peck the key” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004, p. 420).

Aversive Stimulus (SAVE). An aversive stimulus is any event that functions (a) to evoke
behavior that has reduced or terminated it in the past, (b) as a punisher if
presented immediately following a behavior, or (c) as a reinforcer when
withdrawn immediately after a behavior (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007). The
term is sometimes used synonymous with punisher (Miltenberger, 2008) or as a
negative reinforcer (Vargas, 2013; Chance 2009) but these are just more narrow
uses of the term. It is often expressed that the word aversive is subjective or
that there is no definitive definition, but this is not the case. The definition
above is definitive and comprehensive and it is quantifiable and clear. It is
true that we cannot be sure ahead of time what will function as an aversive
stimulus because it has not yet occurred but it can usually be predicted fairly
well. Furthermore, as Vargas (2013, p. 341) puts it, “The only way to be sure
about the effect of a stimulus in a particular situation is to make it
contingent on behavior. If behavior is strengthened when it is removed, you
have an aversive stimulus.” And, this goes for other basic principles of
behavior as well. So in summary, if a stimulus evokes escape behavior, its
withdrawal reinforces a behavior or it’s presentation punishes a behavior, then
it is an aversive stimulus.

Avoidance. Organisms will generally attempt to escape aversive stimuli. Avoidance is often cast in terms of "anticipation" of aversive stimuli to be escaped but this is tends to suggest an agential perspective and is not as accurate as the following explanation. Organisms will attempt to escape aversive stimulation, or punishers. If the punisher being escaped is an unconditioned punisher then we call it escape. If the punisher being escaped is a conditioned punisher, then call might call this avoidance. Note that they are still always escaping some aversive stimulus and so it is really all escape behavior. They are always responding to stimuli in the environment (or to emotional responses to that stimuli in a different perspective) and there is no agent anticipating some future occurrence.

Backward Chaining. "A method used to train a chained performance. The basic idea
is to first train behavior that is closest to primary reinforcement; once
responding is established, links in the chain that are farther and farther from
primary reinforcement are added. Each link in the chain is reinforced by the SD
(which is also a conditioned reinforcer) that signals the next component in the
sequence." (Source) "A sequence
of responses in which each response produces a stimulus change that functions
as a conditioned reinforcement for that response and as a evocative stimulus for the next response in the chain; reinforcement for the last
response in a chain maintains the reinforcing effectiveness of the stimulus
changes produced by all previous responses in the chain." Notice the added
hypothesis that the SEv also serves as a conditioned reinforcer. So,
you have a series of behaviors in a chain. Completion of each behavior serves a
dual function; it serves as a conditioned reinforcer for the behavior the
learner just performed and it acts as the discriminative stimulus (SEv)
for the next behavior in the chain. The opportunity to perform the next
behavior in the chain reinforces the behavior and this occurs for each link in
the chain until the final behavior, which produces the primary
reinforcer from the trainer. This final reinforcement maintains the chain and
the conditioned reinforcers that make it up. (Cooper, Heron
and Heward, 2007, p. 690) There are no in-chain or interjected cues from the trainer in a behavior chain. See Sequencing.

Backward Conditioning. A respondent conditioning
procedure in which the conditioned stimulus is presented after the
unconditioned stimulus. Ineffective.

Baseline. The strength of a behavior (measured via latency, duration, rate, frequency or intensity etc.) prior to a behavior change procedure or some other intervention. The strength of the behavior during and after
intervention is compared with the baseline in order to objectively
identify changes. The difference in level and trend are used
to determine whether the intervention was responsible for the change and
whether the intervention can be considered successful. "The phase of an experiment or
intervention in which the behavior is measured in the absence of an
intervention." (Source)

Behavior. Behavior is any measurable, neurally mediated
reaction of a body part, be the reaction neuromuscular or solely
neural, to a stream of energy emanating from the environment, be the source
inside the body or out.Behavior can include operants or respondents. The environment refers to any stream of energy, be it light
or sound or feel etc. The environmental stimulation that causes the reaction
can come from anywhere outside of the body part that is reacting to it, whether
that is outside of the body or within it. Being neurally mediated means that
the stream of energy from the environment causes neural behaviors to occur that
then cause reactions of other body parts. The word reaction is used
deliberately to highlight the reactive and passive character of behavior, that
it is fully caused and not autonomously initiated by the body (or by a supposed
fictitious inner agent that may free-will the body to behave).

Behavior Chain. "A sequence of related behaviors, each of which provides the
cue for the next, and the last of which produces a reinforcer." (Source) See Backward Chain.

Behavior Change Procedure. The procedural description of how a change in behavior is to be produced as a function of a contrived change in the environment. (Fraley, 2008) Antecedents and consequences are manipulated in order to change the behavior.

Behavior Change
Project / Program / Plan. Systematic and comprehensive
plan involving behavior change procedures for changing specific behaviors of an individual. Usually includes both antecedent
control procedures and manipulation of consequences or respondent associations.

Behaviorism (radical). behaviorism is a philosophical position. It emphasizes natural science assumptions. The specific form of behaviorism that provided the philosophical foundation for behaviorology is Radical Behaviorism," which was decided by B.F. Skinner. Radical means fundamental.

Behavior Maintenance. How long a behavior persists
after the original contingencies are discontinued. Often refers to the stable
performance of behavior after the acquisition stage. Not to be confused with the maintenance stage in a behavior change program. See Steady-State Responding.

Behaviorology. "Behaviorology is an independently organized discipline featuring the natural science of behavior. Behaviorologists study the functional relations between behavior and its independent variables in the behavior-determining environment. Behaviorological accounts are based on the behavioral capacity of the species, the personal history of the behaving organism, and the current physical and social environment in which behavior occurs. Behaviorologists discover the natural laws governing behavior. They then develop beneficial behavior-engineering technologies applicable to behavior related concerns in all fields including child rearing, education, employment, entertainment, government, law, marketing, medicine, and self-management." (Source). More more concisely and perhaps too simplistically, behaviorology is the science of behavior. This is distinguished from psychology, which is in fact not a science.

Behavior System. “A species-specific set of
responses related to a specific US[unconditioned stimulus]. That is, for each species there is
a behavior system related to procurement of food, another related to obtaining
water, still another for securing warmth, and so on” (Pierce & Cheney,
2004, p. 420). Each species performs a specific set of commonly styled
behaviors in feeding, mating, fighting, playing etc. Each of these is thought
of as a system because they are species-typical, functionally related behaviors
with significant innate influences.

Biological Approach. Attempts to understand and
modify behavior by understanding and manipulating the anatomy and physiology of
the individual. The biological approach does not deny phylogenetic
(evolutionary) or ontogenetic (learning) change, but rather posits that
learning takes place in the context of behavior, and that behavior can be
understood and changed by understanding and changing this underlying anatomy
and physiology. In behaviorology, biology is recognized as mediating behavior but that behavior is always a response to the environment and usually the functional relationship between the behavior and the environment are studied rather than considering the mediation of the behavior by biological processes. A different level of analysis.

Biological Context. "The evolutionary history and biological status of an
organism are part of the context for specific environment-behavior
interactions." (Source) See also Preparedness.

Bite Inhibition. A measure of the strength of
a bite, or a measure of the frequency of bites. Bite inhibition has been criticized as non-behavioral, but biting is a behavior, and the force/magnitude of a bite or the frequency of
bites are measurable occurrences of the behavior.

Blocking. A conditioned stimulus (CS) that has already been
associated with an unconditioned stimulus (US) blocks a subsequent CS–US
association. A conditioned stimulus (CS1) is paired with a US until
there is a strong association. After this, a second conditioned stimulus (CS2)
is presented at the same time as CS1, and both are paired with the US. Finally,
CS1 and CS2 are tested separately. If CS1 elicits the conditioned response and CS2 does not, CS2 was blocked.

Bridge. See Conditioned Reinforcer.

Chaining. See Behavior Chain.

Coercion. The “use of punishment and
the threat of punishment to get others to act as we would like, and to our
practice of rewarding people just by letting them escape from our punishments
and threats” (Sidman, 2001, p. 1). See Aversive
Stimulus.

Competing Behavior
Model. The competing behavior model
emphasizes replacing problematic behaviors with more acceptable behaviors. This
is consistent with the constructional approach. Usually involves diagramming
the contingencies of a problem, including identification of replacement behaviors. See Constructional Approach.

Compound Stimuli. Two conditioned stimuli
presented together in respondent conditioning, such that both come to elicit
the same conditioned response.

Concept. "Any class (i.e., group, category) the members of which share one or more defining features." (Chance, 2009, p. 389) Concept are the product of generalization and discrimination. "One must generalize within the conceptual class and discriminate between that and other classes." (Chance, 2009, p. 323)

Conditioned Aversive
Stimulus (CSAVE or Save) An
aversive stimulus that acquires its aversive effect through conditioning, as
opposed to an unconditioned aversive stimulus. See also Aversive Stimulus.

Conditioned Emotional
Response (CER). Emotional responses that are elicited by stimuli that have been paired with unconditioned stimuli or already conditioned stimuli that elicited the emotional response. See emotional behavior.

Conditioned Inhibition. “In respondent conditioning,
when a [conditioned stimulus] is presented repeatedly without the
[unconditioned stimulus] (extinction, the conditioned stimulus is said to
acquire increasing amounts of inhibition, in the sense that its presentation
suppresses the response.” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004)

Conditioned Reinforcer. A previously neutral
stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned reinforcer and has acquired
effectiveness to increase the frequency of an operant. Generally used in the
context of positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement. See also Unconditioned Reinforcer.

Conditioned Response (CR). Response
elicited by a conditioned stimulus. Often, but not always, similar to the
unconditioned response. For example, a click comes
to elicit a similar response to the food it has been associated with. There are
instances, however, in which the CR is quite dissimilar to the unconditioned
response.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS). A previously
neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus and now
elicits reflexive behavior.

Conditioned
Suppression. A conditioned stimulus is
paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Once it becomes a
conditioned aversive stimulus (CSAVE), its presentation will suppress ongoing operant
behavior.

Conditioning. Conditioning is a behavior change process wherein an organism is physically changed by the environment in such a way that they respond in a measurably different way to it thereafter. Commonly, conditioning is said to be any change in behavior due to experience. Conditioning involves small scale changes to the nervous system of the organism that make the body respond differently to stimuli from then on. Behavior causes changes to the environment and that changed environment emits a stream of energy that impinges on the sensory system of the organism causing a cascade of neural firings that cause the change to the structure of the organism and that change constitutes a now different organism that then responds differently to the environment. That feedback loop process of causing changes to the structure of the organism and hence it's responsiveness to the environment is conditioning.

Consequence. That part of the postcedent environment that is a selector for behavior and functionally related to the behavior in question and is not a coincidental stimulus; a coincidental selector influences the behavior but it was not generated by the behavior--a consequence on the other hand was generated by the behavior. The consequence will be reinforcing or punishing. Postcedent stimuli are referred to as a consequence once they have been confirmed as functional related to the behavior of concern and not coincidental. See Postcedent.

Constructional
Approach. As opposed to the
eliminative approach. In 1974, Israel Goldiamond proposed and outlined a basic
strategic approach to changing behavior that provided a paradigm shift from the
popular eliminative approaches practiced at the time. In the eliminative
approach, behavior is commonly thought of as abnormal, pathological and
excessive. The focus of “treatment” is on decreasing the excessive behavior
(via extinction or punishment, for example). Goldiamond (1974; 2002) and
Delprato (1981) agree that a view of behavior as pathological or abnormal
fosters unnecessary acceptance of the eliminative behavioral methods of
behavior change. In the constructional approach, rather than reducing the
animal’s repertoire of behaviors, the trainer increases them. In the
eliminative approach, the animal is shown what not to do, whereas in the
constructional approach, the animal is shown what else to do. Contrast with Eliminative Approach.

Context for
Conditioning. The ontogenetic and
phylogenetic history and current anatomic and physiologic condition of the
animal, as well as the environmental conditions present when a given learning
process is occurring. The influence of history and environment on conditioning.
Constraints and influences on conditioning.

Contingency. A description of the
functional relation, usually between behavior and the environment. A contingency therefore must have at least two terms and one term must be a behavior. In operant behavior, an antecedent -> behavior functional relation is a contingency, as is a behavior -> consequence functional relation. There may be several terms in a contingency. To fully describe and explain a basic behavior scenario, a 3-term contingency is minimum size of contingency because it includes the behavior as well as the evocative stimulus and the consequence. There may be added terms to provide a greater accounting of the behavior episode. In respondent behavior, only a 2-term contingency is required and includes the eliciting stimulus and the response. See Functional Relationship.

Contingency Analysis. The analysis
of a particular behavior episode in order to identify the variables in the contingency
or contingencies that constitute the behavior episode.

Continuous
Reinforcement (CRF). A schedule of reinforcement in which
every response results in reinforcement.

Controlling Stimulus. A stimulus that changes the likelihood of an operant across subsequent occasions. An SEv (evocative stimulus) makes the operant more likely and an S∆ (extinction
stimulus) makes it less likely. SAVE (conditioned aversive stimulus)
can increase or decrease the likelihood, depending on the particular
contingency in operation.

Counterconditioning. In the broadest use of the word, counterconditioning simply refers to conditioning that counters previous conditioning. More commonly, counterconditioning is used to describe a respondent conditioning procedure. In this narrower usage, counterconditioning is the term used to describe respondent conditioning that counters some previous respondent conditioning. This is usually applied to emotional responses. The procedure is utilized to change a conditioned emotional response from
fearful to joyful, or anxiety to relaxation. It may play a role in systematic desensitization procedures. A term that has been used in place of
counterconditioning is reciprocal inhibition. This term was presented to
describe a situation in which a relaxed response was created in the presence of
an anxiety-eliciting stimulus at a low level of intensity; the relaxation
inhibits the anxiety response. See also Systematic
Desensitization.

Countercontrol. Operant behavior that
functions to oppose aversive stimulation. When an individual is coerced, they
will behave in order to work around or against this contingency in order to
maintain access to reinforcement. Often
misinterpreted as “dominance.”

Cycle of Reciprocal
Countercontrol. Term coined by O’Heare
(2007). Here is how the cycle of countercontrol works: The guardian finds some
particular dog behavior irritating. The guardian's behavior (usually punitive
countercontrol, such as “correcting” the dog with leash pops, hitting or
yelling) is negatively reinforced as a quick fix tactic, which then produces an
irritation for the dog, who in turn resorts to countercontrol. This is also
negatively reinforced in many cases, and the cycle of countercontrol continues.
All the while, fallout from the lose–lose encounters is compounded to degrade
the relationship and produce further problematic behaviors. See also Countercontrol.

Delay Conditioning. A respondent conditioning
procedure in which the conditioned stimulus is presented prior to the
unconditioned stimulus and then ends or ceases after the US is being presented.

Dependent Variable. In experimentation, the dependent
variable is the variable that is measured. The experimenter controls for
variables other than an independent variable. The independent variable is the
only variable changed between subjects, or with a single subject through time.
The dependent variable is measured in order to determine if the independent
variable affected it.

Deprivation. An establishing operation
procedure in which the reinforcer is withheld in order to temporarily increase
its effectiveness. As an abolishing operation, a stimulus is withheld in order
to temporarily decrease its effectiveness.

Differential
Reinforcement (DR). A procedure in which a target
behavior is reinforced while another target behavior or any other behaviors are extinguished. See Positive Reinforcement and Extinction.

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behaviors (DRA). A differential reinforcement procedure in which a specific target behavior that is not necessarily incompatible to the undesirable behavior is reinforced while another undesirable target behavior is extinguished.

Differential Reinforcement of High Rate (DRH). A differential reinforcement procedure in which a behavior is reinforced only if it is performed at least specific number of times in a given time frame.

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors (DRI). A differential reinforcement procedure in which a target behavior that is incompatible or mutually exclusive to the undesirable behavior is reinforced while another target behavior is extinguished.

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rate (DRL). A differential reinforcement procedure in which a behavior is reinforced no more than a specific number of times in a given time frame.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors (DRO). A differential reinforcement procedure wherein reinforcement is delivered contingent on absence of the target behavior within a specified period of time. Another definition might be, any behavior other than the undesirable behavior is reinforced while undesirable target behavior is extinguished.

Differential Reinforcement of Successive Approximations of a Target Behavior (aka shaping or behavior shaping). A differential reinforcement procedure in successive approximations to a target behavior is reinforced incrementally while other behaviors are extinguished in order to achieve the target behavior. See Shaping.

Direct Observation. Part of a functional
assessment, direct observation involves observing and measuring a particular
behavior in order to establish its operant level (baseline), and to produce an
accurate contingency statement. See Functional
Assessment.

Discrimination. "Discrimination is the process of behaving, or coming to behave, differently in the respective presence of different stimuli (instead of behaving in the same way in the respective presence of different stimuli). (Frayley, 2008) Refers to an organism
responding differently to two or more different stimuli. The organism
discriminates between the stimuli. Also called Evocation.

Discrimination Training. Promoting discrimination in a training context and establishing a very specific discriminative stimulus and countering generalization to similar stimuli. Differentially reinforcing the behavior when performed after the specific discriminative stimulus and targeting all behaviors evoked by similar stimuli for extinction.

Discriminative
Stimulus (SD). See evocative stimulus.

Distant antecedents. Older term referring to stimuli other than the discriminative stimulus that come before the behavior and influence it. See Function Altering Stimulus.

Elicited. Respondents are elicited.
They are caused by the presentation of a stimulus. Respondents are never evoked or emitted; they are elicited.

Eliminative Approach. In the eliminative approach,
behavior is commonly thought of as abnormal, pathological and excessive. The
focus of “treatment” is on decreasing the excessive behavior (via extinction or
punishment, for example). Goldiamond (2002) and Delprato (1981) agree that a
view of behavior as pathological or abnormal fosters unnecessary acceptance of
the eliminative behavioral methods of behavior change. The alternative proposed
by Goldiamond was a constructional approach. Rather than reducing the animal’s
repertoire of behaviors, the trainer increases them. In the eliminative
approach, the animal is shown what not to do, whereas, in the constructional
approach, the animal is shown what to do. Contrast with Constructional Approach.

Emitted.
Operant behavior is emitted. The word evoked or exhibited is better and emitted might imply to some that the behavior is initiatively chosen by an internal agent, which it is not. Operant behaviors are never elicited.

Emotional Behavior. Physiological behaviors including the release of hormones into the bloodstream by glands. The aftereffect experience or awareness behaviors associated with emotional behaviors are called feelings. The behaviors are the respondents involved, including the neurophysiology and the awareness behaviors of their effects. Emotional behaviors are respondently conditioned and changed only via respondent conditioning. They may act as motivating operations or antecedent conditions for operants.

Environment. All
stimuli and conditions that may influence the behavior of an organism, including
some internal environments such as hormonal conditions, thinking and the
experience of pain. "The natural domain defined by the existence of theoretically measurable independent variables in behavior-controlling relations. The environment occurs on both sides of the skin of the behaving organism. The concept of behavior-controlling environment excludes all non-natural events." See Natural Event (Fraley, 2008)

Escape Behavior. Behaviors that function to
allow an organism to stop or diminish an aversive experience that has already commenced.
See Negative Reinforcement.

Evocative Stimulus (SEv). An evocative stimulus is a stimulus that evokes a behavior. The older term discriminative stimulus is being replaced with evocative stimulus but remains acceptable.

Evoke. Operants are evoked, as opposed to respondents,
which are elicited. Operant behaviors are never elicited.

Explanatory fiction. Vargas (2009, p.23) defines
an explanatory fiction as “a statement that has the form of an explanation, but
in which the cause given is essentially a restatement of the behavior to be
explained.” An explanation for a behavior requires both the dependent variable
(the behavior) and the independent variable (the environmental stimuli
functionally related to the behavior). The variables must be distinct. In an
explanatory fiction, only the dependent variable is identified (Fraley, 2008,
pp.76-77). Diagnostic labels used by those operating under a medical model approach are often explanatory fictions.

Extinction: Withholding or preventing reinforcement for a behavior (procedure), and the resulting decline in the frequency of that behavior (effect) across subsequent occasions in operant conditioning. Presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus after conditioning has occurred, and resulting decline in the strength of the association and response in respondent conditioning. Extinction represents no postcedent environmental change (as opposed to reinforcement and punishment, which both involve postcedent environmental changes). Extinction has commonly been described in terms of abrupt cessation of reinforcement, but it can also be framed in terms of gradual decline. Furthermore, extinction might be defined more broadly than common as "the process of decreasing difference between the antecedent and postcedent environmental conditions in a three-term contingency featuring a behavior that was previously effective in the setting (or generalized to it) and that was maintained at its previous rate by reinforcement alone or by a combination of reinforcement and punishment." (Fraley, 2008) In this broader definition, extinction would apply logically to punishment as well as reinforcement. We might refer to this extinction with regards to a punished behavior as an extinction-like process since the word extinction would be confusing in reference to an increase rather than a decrease in the rate or frequency of the behavior. This increase in the behavior has historically been called recovery but it can be thought of as extinction.

Extinction Burst. A temporary increase in the
frequency of a specific behavior being extinguished, immediately after an
extinction procedure is instated.

Fading. Fading is a procedure by which prompts or function-altering stimuli are gradually eliminated, leaving the evocative stimulus to maintain sole control over the behavior. This can refer to the establishing of a new evocative stimulus or to transferring stimulus control.

Fear. A feeling or awareness/experience behavior associated with certain emotional behaviors involving the release of certain hormones into the bloodstream by glands and certain neural behaviors.

Fear Hierarchy. "The graduated set of stimulus items that are constructed by
client and therapist to treat phobic responses in systematic desensitization.
The items are ordered from least to most anxiety producing." (Source)

Fixed Duration (FD). This schedule of
positive reinforcement component adds the rule that reinforcement will be delivered
after a behavior has been occurring for a specified fixed amount of time.

Fixed Interval (FI). This schedule of
positive reinforcement makes the rule that reinforcement is provided
immediately after a response after a specific interval of time has passed.

Fixed Ratio (FR). This schedule of
positive reinforcement makes the rule that responses will be reinforced after a
specific and fixed number of responses has been performed.

Flexible Chaining. See Sequencing and Behavior Chain.

Flooding. In a flooding procedure, the
animal is exposed to the full intensity of the conditioned stimulus (i.e.
flooded with the conditioned stimulus) without the unconditioned stimulus. Exposure continues until the
conditioned response is extinguished, and escape attempt behavior declines. Escape is prevented. Flooding is a procedure intended to produce respondent extinction.

Four-Term Contingency. In operand behavior, although the three term contingency is commonly utilized and adequate to explain many behaviors, frequently fourth terms are required. In fact there can be many terms, as many as are required to fully explain the behavior and describe the contingency.

Functional Analysis. A part of a functional
assessment in which the observer manipulates antecedents and/or consequences in
order to test specific hypotheses regarding the controlling variables
influencing a behavior. It is an experimental approach to evaluating behavioral
contingencies.

Function Altering stimulus (SFA). Antecedent stimuli that alter the
evocative capacity of the SEv to evoke the behavior is changed; they
influence the likelihood of the SEv evoking the behavior (Fraley,
2008, pp. 509-533). This general term includes motivating operations, sensitization, habituation and other more specific terms. For instance, the presence
of a fire alarm lever will evoke lever-pulling operants but not always. In many
instances, it is a neutral stimulus (SN) rather than an SD.
Consideration of context, or, function altering stimuli will help us achieve a
higher degree of explanatory power in our contingency description. The presence
of flames or smoke (SFA) alters the capacity of the lever (the SEv)
to evoke the lever pulling operant. Without the presence of the SFA,
the maintaining consequences would not occur (merely pressing the lever any
time you see one, would not likely be reinforced, or else a punitive
consequence would suppress it) (Fraley, 2008, pp. 512).

Functional Assessment. Term used to describe a
range of evaluation strategies and techniques, including the informant method,
direct observation and functional analysis.

Functional
Relationship. A relation between
behavior and the environmental stimuli that control it. A relationship between a dependent variable and an independent variable. In the natural science of behavior, the environment acts as the independent variable and the behavior acts as the dependent variable. We study the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable, as in other natural sciences. See Contingency.

Generalization: Generalization is the process by which the range or set of
evocative stimuli increases. That is, other antecedent stimuli come to also
evoke the behavior in question.

Generalized
Conditioned Reinforcer. A conditioned reinforcer
that has been associated with a variety of unconditioned reinforcers. Praise
often achieves this standard.

Graded exposure.
Incrementally exposing the learner to a stimulus, first at a low level of
intensity and gradually increasing the exposure or intensity through repeated
trials. The learner is exposed only at an intensity that does not elicit or
evoke the problem behavior.

Habituation. Repeatedly
presenting an US generates a gradual reduction in the magnitude of the UR, a
process referred to as habituation (Peirce
& Cheney, 2008). Notice in respondent extinction the CS is affected by
repeatedly presenting the CS without the US whereas with habituation, the US is
affected and merely by repeated presentation. Habituation is temporary whereas
respondent extinction is much more durable, if not permanent, although less
conditioning is required to reestablish the CR after extinction.

Hierarchy of Stimulus Intensity.
A breakdown of a stimulus from an exposure that elicits the least responsiveness
through to the exposure that elicits the greatest responsiveness.

History of Conditioning. This refers to the history
of all the times the subject has participated in that contingency back through
time. At some point in time, this basic contingency occurred for the
first time and then with repeated trials it has generally strengthened and
weakened the behavior involved.

Independent Variable. In experimentation, the
independent variable is the variable that is manipulated. The experimenter
maintains other variables stable and changes the independent variable among
groups of individuals or through time in one individual. The dependent variable
is measured in order to determine if the independent variable affected it.

Informant Method. One approach in functional
assessments to gain information on the contingencies involved in the target
behavior, involving questioning people about the behavior and events
surrounding it.

Intermittent Schedule
of Positive Reinforcement. Any schedule of
reinforcement other than continuous reinforcement or extinction. The positive
reinforcer is delivered sometimes, but not always.

Keep Going Signal (KGS). A conditioned positive reinforcer used during the performance of a behavior that is not followed by an unconditioned positive reinforcer right away necessarily but where the completion of the behavior results in delivery of the "terminal" conditioned positive reinforcer and the unconditioned positive reinforcer. There may be a series of KGSs distributed during the behavior. Presumably, the KGS is intended to preemptively keep the learner responding through a long duration behavior where the unconditioned reinforcer may not be sufficient to maintain the behavior.

Latency. A dimension or measure of behavior, usually indicating the time between the presentation of the discriminative stimulus and the performance of the behavior it evokes.

Law of Effect. The law of effect states that consequences can influence the strength of behavior; that some stimulus will tend to strengthen behavior and other stimuli will weaken it. The original way of formulating this referred to how pleasant or annoying the stimuli are: Responses that produce a satisfying effect are more likely to occur
again in that situation. Conversely, responses that produce an annoying effect are less likely to occur again in that situation. We no longer define principles of behavior by how satisfying or annoying the stimuli are. Instead, we define them by their actual effect of on the behavior, whether they actually strengthen or weaken the rate or frequency of the behavior on subsequent occasions.

Learned Helplessness. Refers to ceasing to even
try to escape in the face of inescapable, severe, aversive stimulation. If a
learner cannot effectively escape punishers, they will often cease trying—they
simply resign themselves to it. The learned helplessness phenomenon can be explained as extinction of negatively reinforced behavior. The escape behaviors are rendered ineffective and hence reinforcements withheld and the escape behaviors become extinct.

Learning. Learning is not a scientific technical term. It is a layperson term. See Conditioning.

Least Intrusive Effective Behavior Intervention. Model for decision making regarding the appropriate use of aversive stimulation in training and behavior consulting.

Limited Hold. It adds the rule to a
schedule of reinforcement that reinforcement is only available within the
context of the schedule for a limited period of time. This rule is particularly
helpful when you intend to train a behavior to occur quickly upon presentation
of the discriminative stimulus.

Lure. A prompt wherein you
direct the subject's attention with something and use that to get some behavior to be
performed. Like the carrot in front of the donkey, we can use treats that the
dog will act to smell, which we can then use to encourage them to move wherever
we move the treat.

Medical Model Approach.
A theoretical and procedural orientation to behavior change that tends
to explain and change behavior similarly to how medical professionals treat
physical disease. Behavior is classified as normal or disordered and disordered
behavior is classified into various classifications. This model refers to
diagnosing and treating behavior problems and often but not always takes a biological
approach to viewing and changing behavior. Diagnostic labels do not explain behavior, one important limitation in this approach. It barely describes it, and the label does not contribute effectively to implying the intervention necessary, partly because it fails to identify the cause of the behavior. See http://www.associationofanimalbehaviorprofessionals.com/theoreticorientation.html. See Biological Approach and contrast with Applied Behavior Analysis, which addresses observable behaviors and
how it relates adaptively to the environment.

Motivating Operations
(MOs). A type of antecedent.
Briefly, MOs alter the effectiveness of reinforcers or punishers and the
frequency of operant response classes maintained by those reinforcers and
punishers (Laraway et al., 2003). Abolishing operations (AOs) temporarily decrease the
effectiveness of consequences, whereas establishing operations (EOs) temporarily increase the
effectiveness of consequences. The term MO encompasses all four quadrants in
the contingency table, with EOs for both reinforcers and punishers, and AOs for
both reinforcers and punishers. Usually, satiation and deprivation are used as
MOs. For reinforcers, deprivationtends to be an EO, while satiation tends to be an AO. See Function Altering Stimulation for more general term.

Natural Event. "An event that is defined in terms of time, distance, mass, temperature, charge, and/or perhaps a few other more esoteric properties taken into account by theoretical physicists. A natural event is defined by measurable physical properties and occurs only as the culmination of a sequential history of similarly definable events. Thus, natural events cannot occur spontaneously." (Frayley, 2008)

Negative Punishment. A behavior change process in which a decrease or subtraction of a stimulus to the environment during or immediately following a response results in a decrease in the strength of the behavior across subsequent occasions. (Frayley, 2008)

Negative Reinforcement. A behavior change process in which a decrease or subtraction of a stimulus to the environment during or immediately following a response results in an increase in the strength of the behavior across subsequent occasions. (Frayley, 2008)

Negative Reinforcer. Any stimulus that, when
removed following a behavior, results in an increase in the strength of that
behavior.

Neutral Stimulus. A
stimulus that does not evoke or elicit a response. In operant conditioning, if the stimulus used to evoke a behavior but no longer does because of extinction or punishment then the stimulus can be referred to as an s-delta (S∆) to indicate that.

One-zero sampling. A sampling procedure in which it is observed whether or not a behavior occurs in a given interval of time (e.g., whether or not the behavior occurred in the predetermined 30 second interval).

Operant behavior. Behavior
that is maintained by the consequences that it has historically generated. Operant behavior causes changes
to the postcedent environment that provides energy feedback to the behaving
body, causing small-scale changes to it such that the behavior is then either
more or less likely to occur across subsequent occasions of the antecedent
stimulus that evoked the behavior (Ledoux, 2013, p. 12). Examples of operant
behaviors are sitting, walking and speaking.

Operant Conditioning. A change (increase or
decrease) in the strength of an operant behavior across subsequent presentations of the evocative stimulus as a function of its historic consequences.

Operant Level. The rate or relative frequency of an operant prior
to specific conditioning procedures.

Operant Set. A class of operant behaviors that may differ topographically but function to produce the same consequence. Some behavior analysts use the term operant to refer to operant sets whereas others use the term operant to simply refer to consequence driven behaviors. Note that some behavior analysts use the term "operant" in the same way this glossary is using Operant Set. They would suggest that the word operant used as an adjective as in "Operant Behavior" describes consequence driven behaviors, and that "operant" used as a noun is what we are calling an Operant Set.

Orienting Response. A reflex in which an
organism orients their attention to a change in their environment.

Overshadowing. In respondent conditioning,
if two neutral or conditioned stimuli are used simultaneously in conditioning
an association with an unconditioned stimulus and only one becomes conditioned
while the other does not, we would say that the successfully conditioned
stimulus overshadowed the unsuccessful stimulus. Which stimulus overshadows the
other is probably determined by prior exposure to the stimuli, salience and
perhaps preparedness.

Piloerection.
Raised fur. Usually on the dorsal neck and often continuing down the spine.
Indication of arousal.

Positive Punishment. A behavior change process in which an increase or addition of a stimulus to the environment during or immediately following a response results in a decrease in the strength of the behavior across subsequent occasions. (Frayley, 2008)

Positive Reinforcement. A behavior change process in which an increase or addition of a stimulus to the environment during or immediately following a response results in an increase the strength of the behavior across subsequent occasions. (Frayley, 2008)

Positive Reinforcer. Any stimulus that, when
presented following a behavior, results in an increase in strength of that
behavior in subsequent occasions.

Postcedent. "The environment as it exists beginning immediately after a response." (Frayley, 2008) Once we know what components of this environment are actually functionally related to the antecedent-behavior sequence, we call that the consequence.

Premack Principle. A behavior with higher
frequency or probability can act as reinforcement for a less frequent or less
probable behavior. In practice, we can use everyday opportunities to train
dogs. Not only treats and toys can act as reinforcers, so too can other
behaviors, such as running or playing.

Preparedness. “Some relations between
stimuli, and between stimuli and responses, are more likely because of
phylogenetic history. This phenomenon has been called preparedness. For
example, a bird that relies on sight for food selection would be expected to
associate the appearance of a food item with illness, but rats that select food
on the basis of taste quickly make a flavor-illness association” (Pierce &
Cheney, 2004, p. 438). See Biological Context.

Primary Reinforcer. See Unconditioned reinforcer.

Principle of Behavior. A description of a functional relation between behavior and the environment.

Prompt.A prompt is any antecedent stimulus, other than the designated primary stimulus, that
contributes to evoking the behavior of concern. The primary stimulus is the
currently non-evocative or weakly evocative stimulus designated to be the cue
for the behavior after conditioning. Once the primary stimulus takes on stimulus control over the behavior, the prompt is faded.

Punisher. A
stimulus that, when presented or removed contingent on a behavior, decreases the future strength of that
behavior across subsequent occasions.

Punishment. A behavior change process in which a stimulus during or immediately following a response results in a decrease in the strength of that behavior across subsequent occasions. (Fraley, 2008) Punishment weakens the evocative power of the SEv.

Rate of Response. "The quotient when a count of responses is divided by a count of the time units across which the count of responses occurred. (The count of responses is the dividend; the count of the time units is the divisor; and the rate of responding is the quotient.)" (Fraley, 2008)

Ratio Schedules. Schedules of positive
reinforcement that make the rule that responses will be reinforced after a
specific number (fixed or variable) of responses has been performed.

Ratio Strain. Disruption of operant
responding when a ratio schedule is increased rapidly.

Reciprocal Inhibition. See Counterconditioning.

Reflex. The elicitation of an
unconditioned response (UR) with an unconditioned stimulus (US). A US–UR relationship. Note that the behavior is a respondent behavior alone but a reflex is the relation between both the stimulus and the response--the respondent contingency.

Reinforcer. A stimulus that, when presented or removed contingent on a behavior, increases the future strength of that behavior across subsequent occasions.

Reinforcement. A behavior change process in which a stimulus immediately following or during a response results in an increase in the strength of that behavior across subsequent occasions. (Fraley, 2008) Reinforcement strengthens the evocative power of the SEv.

Relative Frequency. "The quotient derived from the following: (fulfilled opportunities to respond / total opportunities to respond. The result may be expressed as a percentage." (Fraley, 2008)

Resistance to
Extinction. The persistence of an operant
behavior after it is put on an extinction schedule. Prominent when the behavior
was maintained on an intermittent schedule as opposed to a continuous
reinforcement schedule.

Respondent. Respondent
behavior is behavior that is automatically elicited by
an antecedent stimulus, cannot be prevented by supplemental antecedent stimuli
and is unaffected by consequences.

Respondent
Conditioning. A behavior change process that occurs when a neutral
stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (or established conditioned stimulus), and after conditioning has
occurred, the neutral stimulus itself elicits what we now call a conditioned
response, and the neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus.

Respondent Extinction. A behavior change process whereby the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus and the strength of the conditioned stimulus decreases to preconditioning levels. Usually, this means it ceases occurring. For example, if a dog was conditioned to salivate when a bell is rung by presenting the ringing sound followed immediately by inserting food in the dog's mouth thereby eliciting salivation and repeating this process until the ringing sound along would elicit salivation, then extinguishing this respondent behavior would involve presenting the bell ringing sound but not followed by food-in-mouth. Gradually the salivation in response to the bell sound would decline and eventually cease. Respondent extinction can also be used with the respondent emotional behaviors that we commonly refer to as fear. In that case, some previously neutral stimulus has come to elicit the emotional arousal by being paired with a stimulus that does already elicit the emotional arousal. And so, to extinguish the emotional arousal, the stimulus is presented but the unconditioned (or already established conditioned stimulus) is not and this is repeated until the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the emotional arousal. Note, this is not habituation as habituation is temporary and applies to unconditioned responses. Respondent extinction occurs in the procedure commonly referred to as flooding in which subjects are exposed to stimuli they fear at full intensity until they cease responding fearfully to it. Respondent extinction may also play a partial role in some applications of what is called systematic desensitization.

Respondent
Generalization. A behavior change process that occurs when an organism
performs a conditioned response to values of the conditioned stimulus not
previously trained.

Respondent Level. The magnitude of a
conditioned response before conditioning has taken place. The magnitude of the
response to the neutral stimulus.

Response. "Any covert or overt innervated muscular movement of all or part of an organism resulting from energy transformations occurring within the organism and initiated by energy inputs from beyond the affected body part. Also, a particular innervated pattern of neural activity that relies on a particular molecular configuration." (Fraley, 2008) A
particular instance of behavior (See Behavior). Typing is behavior, for
example. An individual keystroke is a particular instance of the behavior, and
we call it a response.

Response Class. See Operant Class.

Response Cost. Form of negative punishment
in which a specified amount of reinforcer is removed or lost contingent on
performance of a specific behavior, and the behavior decreases in frequency as
a result.

Response Effort. The amount of effort
required to execute a particular behavior. The probability of that behavior
being performed decreases proportionally as response effort increases, if an
alternative functionally equivalent behavior becomes available. Organisms will
generally choose a behavior fulfilling a specific function that requires less
effort than other behaviors that will achieve the same function.

Response Prevention. Usually used in conjunction
with flooding. Floodingand response prevention is a procedure based on the principle
of respondent extinction. It is the opposite of systematic desensitization
(based on counterconditioning). In a flooding and response prevention
procedure, the animal is exposed to the full intensity of the conditioned
stimulus (i.e. flooded with the CS) without the unconditioned
stimulus, and escape is prevented (i.e.,
response prevention). Exposure continues until the conditioned response is
extinguished, and escape behavior declines. This procedure is susceptible to
problematic secondary effects.

Resurgence. “The increase in topographic
variability during extinction after a period of reinforcement…” (Pierce &
Cheney, 2004). To put the term in context, an extinction burst is an initial
increase in the frequency of the specific behavior being extinguished, whereas
resurgence involves different behaviors being offered once extinction is in
place. Resurgence is the basis for the variability needed in shaping. While Pierce and Cheney clearly describe resurgence as the topographic variability in responding during extinction, some sources refer to resurgence as the appearance of other behaviors from the organism's repertoire with a reinforcement history, that organisms perform after extinction is put in place. In this use of the term, it is the animal running through their repertoire of behaviors in order to access reinforcers as opposed to the simple increase in the topographic variability during extinction.

Reversal Design. The reversal-design single
subject experiment typically involves two phases. The first phase (the A phase)
involves establishing a baselinefor the frequency or magnitude of the behavior (the dependent
variable) in question. Following the A phase, you instate the independent
variable (that is, the consequence or the antecedent that you want to know
about) and continue to measure the frequency or magnitude of the behavior. This
second phase is called the B phase. Usually, there is at least another A phase.
See also Alternating Treatment Design.

Safety Signal. A salient
stimulus that is presented immediately before or during conditioning trials
wherein an aversive stimulus will not be presented and is not present for
trials wherein the aversive stimulus will be presented.

Salience. A stimulus is salient to the
extent that it is noticeable. The more noticeable and prominent the stimulus
is, the more salient it is. The more salient a stimulus is, the greater its
associative strength as a conditioned stimulus.

Satiation. Decline in the effectiveness
of a reinforcing stimulus due to excess exposure to it or repeated presentation
of it. If an organism is satiated with a particular reinforcer, its value
declines and it is not as powerful a reinforcer as a result. Satiation can also
be used in the context of punishers, and in that regard the behavior would
increase in frequency. See Motivating Operations.

Schedule of Positive
Reinforcement. Rules specifying which
target responses are followed by positive reinforcers.

S-Delta (S∆). A kind of discriminative stimulus, one that used to evoke a behavior but now does not because of extinction or punishment. It is a kind of neutral stimulus now except that referring to the s-delta stimulus as a neutral stimulus fails to specify that it used to evoke a behavior and no longer does.

Sensitive Periods. Narrow windows of time in
early development when organisms are particularly susceptible to particular
forms of learning or learning specific classes of associations. Previously
referred to as “critical periods.”

Sensitization. “In sensitization, the
eliciting effects of one stimulus are enhanced as a result of presentation of
some other stimulus; one stimulus amplifies the eliciting effect of another
stimulus” (Catania, 1998, p. 50). And: “The tendency to be more responsive
to the environment following an arousing experience” (Hergenhahn & Olson,
2001, p. 469). Catania offers the example that an animal who is shocked
and then shortly thereafter is exposed to a loud noise is more likely to have
their startle response elicited. The shock sensitized the animal to the noise.
Chance (2003, p. 454) offers this definition: “An increase in the
intensity or probability of a reflex response resulting from earlier exposure
to a stimulus that elicits that response.” It is common to confuse the notion
of sensitization with the notion of potentiation. Potentiation, explains Catania
(p. 50), involves “an increase, over repeated presentations, in the
respondent behavior elicited by a stimulus (especially, an aversive stimulus).”

Sensory
Preconditioning. “In respondent conditioning,
two stimuli such as light and tone are repeatedly presented together (light +
tone) without the occurrence of a US (preconditioning). Later, one of these stimuli (CS1)
is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) and the other stimulus (CS2)
is tested for conditioning. Even though the second stimulus (CS2)
has never been directly associated with the US, it comes to elicit the conditioned
response (CR)” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004,
p. 443).

Separation Distress. Distress related behaviors (physiologically and anatomically, panic
and pain related although anxiety and fear related sometimes) elicited by
social (or place attachment) isolation, or conditioned stimuli predicting
social (or place attachment) isolation, and the operants they motivate. (O'Heare, 2009) See important caution under Aggressive Behavior.

Sequencing. "A sequence is a series of multiple, individually cued behaviors performed consecutively and usually without added reinforcement between them. An agility course is a long sequence made up of not only the obstacles, but also the directional cues given between the obstacles." (Source) Notice that this is different from chaining in that it can involve interjected cues from the trainer. Sequencing is often confused with chaining but chaining as conventionally defined does not involve interjected verbal or physical cues from the trainer. This has been called "flexible chaining" as well but again, this is now what chaining is as conventionally defined.

Setting Events. Environmental events or conditions, not including motivating
operations, not typically occurring immediately prior to the behavior in question
but setting the occasion, or form the context, for a particular behavior, making
the behavior more or less likely. These can often be thought of as more distant motivating operations. See Function Altering Stimulation.

Shaping (procedural)."A procedure in which differential reinforcement is applied to a series of successive approximations of a final specified form of a behavior." (Fraley, 2008) Shaping is a postcedent intervention and a compound procedure in that it utilizes two basic principles of behavior (both postcedent changes): extinction and reinforcement. It usually involves positive reinforcement, but utilizing negative reinforcement can legitimately be called shaping. It is a special kind of differential reinforcement. Both are compound procedures involving reinforcement and extinction, but while differential reinforcement changes only the rate or frequency (quantity) of a behavior, shaping changes the form (quality) of the behavior. They are both postcedent interventions in that they involve reinforcement and extinction, both postcedent behavior change processes. See Free-Shaping for further discussion.

Simultaneous Conditioning. A respondent conditioning procedure in in which the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are presented at the same time and end at the same time.

Social behavior. Also called communication in psychology and ethology, behavior that influences the behavior of others. Social behavior or "communication" is just like any other behavior and operates on the same principles of behavior. It is not the transmission of information from mind to mind.

Social Disruption. One form of the problematic
secondary effects of aversive stimulation, in which the person presenting the
aversive stimulation and the context in which it is delivered become
conditioned aversive stimuli. This is related to a decline in the social bond.

Socialization. The process of exposing an
animal to stimuli in a sensitive manner while the animal is in (or
approximately in) a sensitive period of development and particularly amenable
to acclimating to these stimuli and establishing nonaversive respondent emotional responses to it and establishing a history of reinforcement for contacting the stimuli.

Spontaneous Recovery
(operant). After operant extinction,
when the behavior is at the operant level, if the animal is put back into the
context that previously set the occasion for that behavior, the behavior may be
performed again. It is thought that extraneous discriminative stimuli (contextual
stimuli) not fully extinguished evoke the behavior. With repeated exposure and
continued extinction, the behavior becomes less and less likely to
spontaneously recover. The word “spontaneous” is unfortunate and misleading
because the responding is not actually spontaneous at all.

Spontaneous Recovery
(respondent). After a respondent behavior
has been extinguished and the conditioned stimulus is presented, the
conditioned response may return or increase in magnitude. Continued extinction
results in a decline of the response.

Steady-State
Responding. Behavior that is stable in
rate over time. Once a behavior is past the acquisition stage and into
“maintenance,” it should reach steady state.

Startle Response. Reflexin which the organism rapidly activates in a frightened
manner; rapid activation of the nervous system, preparing for energy
expenditure. Perhaps a rapid surprise version of the orienting response.

Stimulus. Any event that is capable of influencing behavior.

Stimulus Class. “Stimuli that vary across
physical dimensions but have a common effect on behavior belong to the same
stimulus class” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004, p. 444).

Stimulus Control. "Stimulus control is the functional control that stimuli in the environment acquire over the behaviors exhibited in their presence. These stimuli set the occasion for the behavior that reliably follows them." (Frayley, 2008)

Structural Approach. An approach to classifying
behaviors in which behaviors that share topographies are clumped into the same
classification.

Superstitious Behavior. Coincidentally reinforced behavior. Sometimes postcedent events occur and while not generated by the behavior itself still function to reinforce the behavior simply by the temporal occurrence of it. When a behavior is reinforced by stimuli that were not generated by the behavior and occurred merely coincidentally, the behavior it reinforces is called superstitious. For example, if a rat is in a Skinner Box and food is delivered at random intervals, not contingent
on any particular behaviors, the rat is likely to be performing a common
behavior, such as sniffing, turning or standing on hind feet, more often than
other behaviors. Even though the food delivery is not contingent on any particular
behavior, the frequency of some behavior may increase, and this is called
accidental or superstitious. In this example, after a few sessions the rat
might be spinning in circles well above its previous operant rate.

Systematic
Desensitization. Systematic desensitization
is effective, no question about it. But we just do not know why exactly. In
1920, John Watson and Rosalie Rayner published a classic paper on how emotional
responses are conditioned via respondent conditioning in which the authors
detail how a child names Albert was conditioned to fear specific stimuli. In
1924, Mary Cover Jones published a classic follow-up article on how emotional
responses, fear in particular, could be changed via respondent conditioning by
outlining how they counterconditioned fear responses in a child names Peter. These
classic works provided the foundation for Joseph Wolpe’s 1954 seminal article
in which he proposed the procedure known as systematic desensitization. Systematic
desensitization was proposed to change problem emotional responses including
fears, anxieties and phobias. The idea was to coach the client in relaxation
exercises, construct a hierarchy of fear and then incrementally and gradually
expose the client to an imagined or actual exposure to each level in the
hierarchy starting with the least intense, promote relaxation and work through
the entire hierarchy, level by level. Wolpe proposed reciprocal inhibition as the mechanism by which the learner
desensitizes to the feared stimulus. This is similar to counterconditioning. The idea is that the learner cannot engage in
two contradictory or mutually exclusive emotional / physiological responses at
the same time. The relaxation was said to inhibit the fear or anxiety (or
countercondition it). Since then, the reciprocal inhibition and
counterconditioning hypotheses have been called into question. Others have
proposed that habituation or respondent extinction are responsible for the
desensitization effects but these also have been called into question. In
recent years, many behavior technologists have proposed that much of the
beneficial effects are actually the result of operant conditioning rather than
respondent conditioning. Complex cognitive (covert verbal behavior) explanations
and expectancy/placebo effects have also been proposed. Systematic desensitization
is the term often used to describe any procedure involving relaxation and
graded exposure through a hierarchy of stimulus intensity. Within that
framework, there is in vitro systematic
desensitization wherein the learner imagines the exposure and in vivo systematic desensitization
wherein the learner is actually exposed to the stimulus. This latter approach
is sometimes called contact
desensitization though. And sometimes the in vitro version is referred to
as systematic desensitization and the contact version is referred to as in vivo
desensitization. The entire process is sometimes also referred to as simply exposure therapy but this term is
usually used to refer to systematic desensitization and other exposure
procedures. (O'Heare, 2009)

Tertiary Reinforcer. A conditioned reinforcer that was established by pairing with another conditioned reinforcer as opposed to an unconditioned reinforcer. "A stimulus that functions as a reinforcer because of its
contingent relation to another reinforcer. Such stimuli have also been called
secondary reinforcers, but this designation is best reserved for cases in which
the modifier specifies how many stimuli separate the conditioned reinforcer
from a primary reinforcer (e.g., a secondary reinforcer is followed directly by
a primary reinforcer, a tertiary by a secondary, etc.)." (Source)

Three-Term Contingency. The three-term contingency describes the controlling variables for a behavior and the functional relationship between behavior and the environment,in terms of what occurs before the behavior (antecedents) and immediately after the behavior (postcedents) that influences it. Once we have determined that an antecedent stimulus controls a behavior, we refer to it as the discriminative stimulus (SD). Once we have determined that a particular postcedent stimulus reinforces or punishes the behavior and is therefore functionally related to the behavior, we call it the consequence. Under some circumstances, it can be useful to include a four term in the contingency, a function altering stimulus. This might include function altering stimulation (or context) such as the general setting events and the specific motivating operations. For instance, a fire alarm lever will not always evoke pulling behaviors but in the presence of smoke or flames, the alarm lever evokes the pulling behavior (barring other opposing contingencies). The flames act as a function altering stimulus and the lever then becomes the SD. Without the smoke or flames, lever pressing behavior will not likely result in reinforcement. In fact, it may result in punishment. Emotional arousal, if the animal goes into the contingency in question in this "mood" can also act as a function altering stimulus. Function altering stimulus is a general term hat includes all of these context terms such as setting events and motivating operations etc.

Trace Conditioning. A respondent conditioning
procedure whereby the conditioned stimulus is presented and then removed,
followed shortly by the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus. Establishing a "clicker" as a conditioned positive reinforcer utilizes trace conditioning. For effective conditioning, the US ought to follow the CS within a couple/few seconds to achieve satisfactory contiguity.

Unconditioned
Reinforcer. A stimulus that acts as a
reinforcer but not as a result of conditioning. Related to biological needs
such as food, optimal temperature etc. The body develops structurally under genetic controls such that they will be reinforced automatically by the property that is said to be a primary or unconditioned reinforcer (Fraley, 2008, p. 125)

Unconditioned Response (UR). Response
elicited by a stimulus related to biological adaptations. For example, eye
blinking is a UR elicited by a puff of air on the eye. It is adaptive because
it protects the eye and hence contributes to biological/reproductive fitness.
See Reflex.

Unconditioned Stimulus(US). Stimulus that
elicits an unconditioned response. For example, a puff of air
is a US that elicits blinking. See Reflex.

Variable Duration (VD). This schedule of
positive reinforcement makes the rule that reinforcement will be delivered
after a behavior has been occurring for a variable amount of time. As with
other variable schedules, the reinforcement is delivered on what seems like a
random schedule but is variable around a mean of a specified duration of time.

Variable Interval (VI). This schedule of
positive reinforcement sets the rule that reinforcement is to be delivered on
the first occurrence of the target behavior after a variable interval of time
has passed. Similar to the fixed interval schedule, the first behavior after an
interval of time passes is reinforced, but in this case, the time interval is
variable around a mean, rather than being fixed.

Variable Ratio (VR). This schedule of
positive reinforcement makes the rule that the target response will be
reinforced after an apparently random but specific average number of responses.
The VR schedule is similar to the fixed ratio schedule, but rather than
reinforcing after every, say, 4 responses, you provide the reinforcement after
an average of 4 responses.